METHOD AND CURRENT CONTROL CIRCUIT FOR OPERATING AN ELECTRONIC GAS DISCHARGE LAMP

摘要

In a method for operating an electronic gas discharge lamp by means of a TRIAC circuit, a current is drawn from the dimmer circuit (1) when the TRIAC (5) is in a non-conductive state to bring the TRIAC (5) in the conductive state and the current drawn from the dimmer circuit is reduced when the TRIAC is in a conductive state. According to the invention a substantially fixed current is drawn from the dimmer circuit in the conductive state of the TRIAC at a sufficient level to maintain the TRIAC in the conductive state. To this end a current control circuit (20) for controlling a current drawn from a power source (6) comprising a voltage controlled variable resistive switch circuit driven by a voltage control circuit.